VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Eddie Eagle · M&M Joined: 23 Apr 2008 Posts: 2393

If you are running a PC with Intel motherboard you might want to swap out your noisy cpu fan with this baby.
http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Cooling-UCACO-FZ130-BL-Freezer-13/dp/B0048F64DU

Diane Maggipinto · Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 10:27 am Post subject:

hi eddie! i've got the intel core 2 duo. seems pretty quiet, though how might i determine if i'd benefit from this? i know--64k question ...........
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Chuck Davis · Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 10:37 am Post subject:

Once again Eddie and I are using the same gear. Weird! I'm cooling an AMD Phenom Black quad-core with the same fan.

Diane, it's a big fan that can run slower while still cooling the cpu properly. The heat sink on these is so large you could almost do without the fan.
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Eddie Eagle · M&M Joined: 23 Apr 2008 Posts: 2393

Hey Dianne,
Pretty quiet is kind of relevant so it might be a quiter fan than you have as Chuck said the heat sink is big and helps control temp while also having a quiet fan. The thing is rated for .4 sone which means it's ultra quiet.

Like minds Chuck! Laugh

jordanreynolds · Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 6:56 pm Post subject:

I built my PC in 2008 to be virtually silent. You can only hear noise if you put your ear up near the case. I have 4 of these bad boys running in my case. Push tons of air and are almost silent. I have one mounted on my CPU heatsink too. Looks like they stopped making them though Frown

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185005

Jacob Ekstroem · Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 5:14 am Post subject:

Jordan, I also swear by Scythe, and they are still available in various models.

My Core2 Duo CPU is cooled by a Scythe "Ninja" heatsink (gotta love that name) fitted with a 120 mm fan, but provided heatflow in the cabinet is sufficient it CAN run without a CPU fan. In the front and back of my cabinet also sits a 120 mm Scythe fan, one is fan-controlled. On the "low" setting my system is VERY quiet. I ran it with only one casefan for years, but eventually I overclocked the CPU a bit and installed the second casefan. The PSU is a very quiet Seasonic S12.

I've said this before: the most overlooked key to a quiet system perfect for VO editing alone, is downgrading. "Less is more". You do NOT need the latest super-duper multi-core CPU and 8 GB's of RAM to record and edit VO! Before I build my current system I had a virtually stock IBM Netvista PC. It had a 1 Ghz PentiumIII CPU and 512 MB RAM. The entire system had 2 (two!) fans: the stock CPU heatsink/fan was replaced by a Thermaltake 80 mm, and the stock PSU had a very silent fan. This system was even quiter than my current system, and I would still use it today if it wasn't for the fact that the 512 MBs of RAM was a bit insufficient for running WinXP. It ran flawlessly on Win2000, but I had to upgrade for some specific software that couldn't run on Win2k. So I build a new PC, but honestly I miss the IBM.

My current system has one of the smallest Core2Duo CPU's @ 1.86 Ghz and 3 GB RAM. I've had it for six years and I've never felt the need for an upgrade. It's easy to cool using low-noise big fans and takes everything I throw at it.

A usually really noisy compoment of a PC is the fan on the Graphics card. These are small and have high RPM's to produce enough cooling. But if you don't use your system for gaming, you do NOT need a powerfull gfx-card at all, so consider replacing this to a card without a fan. Your system will quiet down A LOT from this alone.
The PSU may have a noisy fan aswell, but you can get PSUs today that are literally dead-silent.
Placement of the PC also matters more than you'd think. Obviously place it as far away from your mic as possible, preferably UNDER the desk and not ON the desk! Place some Auralex or foam on the wall behind the case and place the case itself on top of a stone tile.

In the days of Pentium4, it was almost imposible to build a quiet PC, because those CPUs generated a lot of heat. Todays Core5's and 7's runs fairly cold and doesn't require drastic cooling. This means even cheap heatsink fans can produce sufficient cooling, but may not be of the best quality, thus being noisy. Obviously, laptops doesn't have room for big fans, and the placement makes it hard for the small fans to distribute heat, so in general they are never silent, although I've heard about exceptions to the rule.

Anyway, I'm babbling. My point is, a five year old Core2 Duo system is absolutely sufficient for VO, it can be extremely quiet and can be found second-hand for peanuts. Install it in your studio and put your newest kick-a** system for gaming in your living room Smile

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Jacob - Danish Voice Overs (try it... it sounds really funny, too!)

Eddie Eagle · M&M Joined: 23 Apr 2008 Posts: 2393

Good stuff to know about the Scythe and others guys!